Of Potions and Sharingan
by 9SnapDragon9
Summary: Itachi had hoped that after defeating Kabuto and undoing the Edo Tensei that he would finally be able to rest in peace. However, fate has different plans in store. Reborn into a new world filled with magic, he will become the top student of Hogwarts. It could be worse, a creepy snake man could be out for him. But what were the chances of an Orochimaru look-alike in this world.
1. Prolouge

**Prolouge:**

 **Curiosity Revived the Cat**

* * *

Darkness enveloped him, surrounding him in a blanket of nothingness. He felt himself falling, but he had no idea for how long. His entire body felt numb, as if he had bathed in sub-zero waters for hours on end. So was this what death felt like? A vague memory told him no, that he had died before and something else had happened.

Suddenly, it felt like he had a hit a wall. All of his movement had stopped, leaving him floating in the blank space. Seconds later, a bright light appeared in front of him. It was barely even the size of a period -if even that- and was probably kilometers away. Did sizes and distances even exist in this dimension?

The strange light in the otherwise pitch black area proved too much for his curiosity to resist. He floated towards the light, but it didn't seem to get any closer. Instead, the pulsing light appeared to actually get farther away the more he swam towards it.

He wouldn't be beaten by a little light. He moved forward, increasing his speed. At least, he thought he was. It was quite hard to tell. Finally, the light seemed to actually be getting closer. He surged forward, reaching his arm out -he could see his arm!- and, with a cry of triumph, brushed his fingers against the light.

The light filled the entire space, so bright that even shadows fled. His eyes closed at the the intensity. Had he not, the light probably would have burned his eyes straight out of his sockets in seconds. Even behind his eyelids, it was still like staring directly into the sun.

When he opened his eyes, he was staring up at a woman. He noticed that he seemed to exponentially smaller than he had last been, but also that the woman was holding him. She had a tender look in her eyes, and placed a kiss atop his forehead.

"Hello, Severus," She said. "You will become a wonderful wizard that will make the Snape name proud." Severus? Last he recalled, he had been called something else.

Then it dawned on him. He had died, he knew that for sure. He had opened his eyes to a strange woman calling him a strange name. He knew for a fact that he was much smaller. He had been reborn, reborn into a newborn baby.

Itachi Uchiha, the man who killed his entire clan to protect his village, had been reborn as Severus Snape.

To most people, having a second chance at life would have been a dream come true. However, to Itachi it was more or less annoying. He had already been disturbed in death when Kabuto had used the Edo Tensei to reanimate him along with dozens of others.

After defeating Kabuto and breaking the Edo Tensei, Itachi had looked forward to being able to rest in piece. Itachi normally didn't believe in fate, but he was sure that someone or something out there was against him. Couldn't he rest in piece, or was this karma getting back at him,

Though slightly displeased at first, Itachi -or was it Severus now?- decided to make the most of this new life. Due to being a baby, his parents would also talk about things that they normally wouldn't talk about in front of him otherwise. Most of the time they seemed to argue about something called "Magic".

Apparently his mother was a witch, someone who could harness magic. His father, however, could not use magic, making him a "Muggle" if Severus understood his mother correctly. Because of this, Severus was a "Half-Blood", someone who had one magical parent and one muggle parent.

At first his memories of his previous life were fuzzy at best, as he was only able to clearly remember a few things such as his name. However, as he continued to grow older, his memories of Itachi began to grow clearer. Now he could remember his days as a ninja of Konohagakure, his days as an ANBU, and his mission to eliminate his entire clan.

As he grew, he found himself being more and more ignored by his father and mother. His father seemed to hate magic, and did all he could to punish Severus. Severus's mother seemed to not care about him since he wasn't shooting powerful accidental magic left and right.

He remembered the first accidental magic he had performed was simply making a spoon fly into his hand. His fathers eyes had nearly popped out of his head, and the vein above his left eye had throbbed dangerously. Severus had spent the rest of the month in his room, although he had still snuck out against his father's orders.

His parents also frequently shouted at each other, usually when Severus did do some accidental magic, like making water in a cup disappear or making shoes wobbily float in the air. Severus often found himself sitting in his room, wondering it would be like when he finally went to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry.

Whenever his father was away, he voiced these thoughts to his mother. But she didn't really pay any attention to him. Severus briefly wondered if this was how Naruto had felt during his childhood days. He also wondered if the vessel of the Nine-Tails had beaten Madara. Probably, the boy had tons of determination and was harder to kill than a cockroach.

Because of his parents, Severus often walked around the neighborhood, noticing how ignorant Muggles were of the magical world. Many times they would see things clearly of magical origin, and yet they would brush it off as a fluke of science or something of the like.

However, Severus was curious. He wanted to figure out how magic worked; after all ,you cannot create something from nothing. And once he got to Hogwarts, he would start trying to unwrap the mysteries of magic. Until then, he would have to endure his parents constant shouting.

And ever since he had turned nine, his parents seemed to fight more and more. He could rarely be in the house without the two breaking into an argument, like a couple of children fighting over a toy. Hmm, did that analogy still work even though that he too was a child.

One thing that he had been wishing for ever since being born into this life was a single friend. However, most kids found him to look creepy, like an "oversized bat". Severus sighed as he heard his parents had started their pre-brunch fight. Maybe he would go take a walk down the street to that park and see if that strange redheaded girl was there, perhaps this time he would actually talk to her about her abilities.


	2. Supplies in Diagon Alley

**I would quickly like to thank everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. It's my first one, so all the feedback is amazing. I would especially like to thank those who informed me that the previous title was misleading, and it has now been changed. If anyone else sees any errors, feel free to point it out.**

 **Also, there is a timeskip of several days since the end of the last chapter. And in the middle of this chapter there is a time skip of a couple years.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

 **Diagon Alley**

* * *

"So are both your parents wizards? You know too much about magic to be like me," The redhead said. Severus had been expecting this question for a while. Nearly a week had passed since he had first met Lily Evans, a Muggle-born witch whose talent at magic was prodigious. Since then they had become friends and he was telling her everything he knew about the magical world.

"No," Severus answered, "My father is a Muggle, but my mother is a witch. She told him during their honeymoon."

"Wow, your father must have been amazed."

Severus frowned and stared at his hands, making Lily look at him in confusion. "Actually my father hates magic, even if it can't be controlled." The quietness that followed meant that Lily had grasped the hidden meaning in his reply.

"I'm sorry, Sev. I wish you could come live with me, my parents would love you. They were so excited when they first saw my abilities." Severus smiled, Lily was perhaps the closest thing he had to family.

"It's fine," He said. "Now let's see, what to talk about next. Ah! I know..." And for next several hours he held Lily in rapt attention, telling stories he had heard about Hogwarts and the four houses. He was in the middle of telling her a story he heard about a man named Dumbledore facing a dark wizard named Grindelwald. However he then noticed that it was starting to get late.

He didn't want to think about what would happen if he was late to dinner.

"Sorry, I should get home. I'll finishing tell you the story next time." With that, Severus stood up and began to walk back home.

"Hey, wait," Lily called out, stumbling up and chasing after him. "I'm sure you could stay for a little bit longer."

Lily suddenly stopped when she felt two fingers poke her forehead. Severus gave her a small smile.

"Forgive me, Lily," He said. "I'll finish it later." Lily pouted, but didn't argue. Severus watched her run down the street until she disappeared around the bend. He then continued his own walk back home. Along the way he noticed an young teen playing with his little brother. Memories of his past life and Sasuke surged into his mind.

He didn't know why, but lately he had been thinking about Itachi more and more. Even though he tried hard not to think about it, wanting to start with a clean slate. Although, Severus guessed that a life like Itachi's wouldn't be so easy to forget. Oh well, in a couple of years he and Lily would be starting school at Hogwarts. And he doubted that he would have ample time to think about his past life then.

* * *

Two years later Severus was waiting with Lily outside of her house, and soon one of the Hogwarts staff would be here to take them to get their school supplies at Diagon Alley.

Well technically it was mainly for Lily, but Severus had decided to tag along. He already had enough money to get his supplies, and then Lily would exchange her Muggle money for Wizard money at Gringotts.

Severus was just glad to be away from home. His father had been even angrier and more spiteful ever since Severus had recieved his letter from Hogwarts. As a result he had been hitting both Severus and his mother more often. The young boy still had blackish-purple bruise on his back.

He listened to Lily chattering excitedly beside him, and tried to fet her to calm down slightly. Luckily, a crack resounded through the air and a woman was standing in front of them. Her eyes held a confused glance in them when she saw Severus, but he quickly told her his name.

"So you must be the one who told Ms. Evans so much about the magical world," The woman's tone was not condenscending, she was just stating a fact. "Saved me some trouble, I suppose. Now then, my name is Minerva McGonagall. I am one of the professors at Hogwarts, and will be helping you to gather your supplies."

The name rung a bell in Severus memory. "My mother talks about you quite frequently."

"Oh really?" She asked. "I had the distinct impression that she despised me."

"She does. She constantly talks about her hatred of you, calling you a stupid, goody-twoshoes Gryfindor."

"Hmm... I expected more," Professor McGonagall stated.

"Yes, but I am not too keen on getting detention before the school year has started," Severus replied, noticing the corners of her mouth twitch up briefly. Lily tried to hold back a bit of laughter.

The professor then told the two to hold on to her left arm, and she held her wand in her right. Once Severus and Lily had grabbed hold, she waved the wand. Instantly Severus felt like he needed a trash bag. It felt like he was spinning violently, or was that just an illusion. He didn't dare open his eyes to figure out. Soon the horrible feeling stopped and the three of them were standing in an alley.

He saw the pitying look on Professor McGonagall's face as Lily fell to the ground. "I forgot how hard that can be on a person's first time." Severus was wishing they had taken a different route here. Even his memories of his first shunshin wasn't this bad, and Severus almost found himself releasing the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

Professor McGonagall waited for Lily and Severus to regain their ability to walk straight and then she led them into a nearby brick wall. She took out her wand and tapped a certain brick. Almost instantly, the wall seemed to disappear, and they walked into an area filled with dozens of shops. Many people were milling about, and it was obvious that they were magical if their clothes were anything to go by.

Without pausing, Professor McGonagall took them into a large marble building that towered over all the other shops. Inside, she took Lily to one of the many goblins sitting at a desk. After a few minutes, as the goblin counted the Muggle money spread in front of him, Lily walked away with enough knuts, sickles, and galleons to buy her supplies.

The professor then dropped Severus and Lily off at Madam Malkin's to get their robes. Meanwhile she went to collect their cauldrons. Severus and Lily stood on stools as Madam Malkin measured them and began work.

By the time Professor McGonagall returned, Severus and Lily had their robes and hats ready. Then with cauldrons in hand they went to grab their school books and potion supplies. While looking for their books Severus and Lily ran across a peculiar named one.

"' _Dangerous Creatures for the Insane and Suicidal_.' That's a weird name," Lily said. Severus nodded in agreement, noticing many other books with similarly disturbing title. They were soon pulled from that store to their next stop, their wands.

The building was very old, with a sign that read, "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since A.D. 382." Inside was very much the same, very old and it had a strange smell. Standing next to a single chair was an old man with white hair and pale eyes.

"Oh yes, more first years coming to get their wands. One of the many reasons I love this time of the year," The man, who Severus assumed was Ollivander, said eccentrically, before walking over to them. He inspected the two of them closely, discerning eyes digging into them. He turned to Severus. "I remember your mother very clearly. She was a difficult customer, went through quite a few wands before choosing one. Or perhaps I should say, before one chose her. After all the wand chooses the wizard. Now, which hand is your wand hand."

Severus held up his right hand, and Ollivander thrust a wand into his hand. At the man's command, Severus gave it a quick wave. Nothing happened and Ollivander brought another one out. This time, the wand gave off a shower of sparks. Ollivander smiled,

"Thirteen inch Cedar wand with a dragon heartstring core. Not very many people have Ceder wands. They are extremly loyal to their owners. You will do great things with that wand.."

Next was Lily's turn. After being told what a wand hand was, she held out her hand and got her wand on the first try. This one spilled some kind of liquid with a strange smell shot from the tip.

"Um... Does this always happen?" Lily asked, the wand starting to slow down its liquid production. Ollivander smiled.

"Yes, differents wands will do different things. Let's see... Willow, ten inches, unicorn tail hair core. This kind of wand will excel in charms," He said. "Now that will be seven galleons a piece."

They forked over the coins and walked out of the shop with their new wands in hand. Lily waved hers around a little bit before it began to spew out more liquid again.

"Professor, please help. Sev, stop laughing, it's not funny!" Professor McGonagall waved her wand and the liquid disappeared. "Thank you. I hope that doesn't happen again." She turned to glare at a chuckling Severus.

"Once you get used to your wand things like that won't happen like that again,'" Professor McGonagall informed. "You two have just enough to get something else. Students at Hogwarts are allowed to bring an owl, a cat, or a toad with them."

A few minutes later the three were walking out of their final shop. Lily was an extremely fat -or fluffy. Severus couldn't tell- black furred cat. They had stopped at the owl emporium right before that and Severus had picked up a great horned owl. The bird sat in a cage and was sleeping despite the racket.

They were currently standing in the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Professor McGonagall to set up a temporary floo network to their houses. Lily scratched her cat, which had recently been named Sparta, behind the ear.

"So what are you going to name her?" She asked, gesturing to the owl.

Severus thought about it, he hadn't really decided on a name. He turned to look at the owl, who was still fast asleep. Surely it would be okay if he had one reminder of his past life.

"Mikoto," he whispered low enough so only Lily could hear. "It means nobilty. A name fitting for an owl beloging to the great Half-Blood Prince." He saw Lily smile at the joke on his nickname, but she would never know the true connonations of why he chose that name. For even in this new life, Severus was still unable to escape from the guilt of killing his parents.

Soon Professor McGonagall returned and told them how to use the floo. Saying a quick farewell to his friend, Severus went first and soon reappeared out of the fireplace in his home. However once he caught sight of his fathers twitching eye, he quickly wished he had mispronounced the location.

He looked around and saw his mother in the corner of the room, she had a black eye and was covered in red marks. Severus decided that he would no longer allow his father to bully them around. He took out his wand, hoping that his father didn't know that he couldn't actually use it legally, and pointed it at the man.

"Don't ever touch my mother or me ever again. If you do I shall use this to do things that will make beg for death." He saw the fear flash across his father's eyes and repressed a smirked. From now on, he had his father in the palm of his hand.

* * *

 **Another chapter done, and sorry for the major time skip ithe middle of the chapter. I wanted to get a little bit of coversation between Lily and Severus during their childhood, but I couldn't figure out how to have an entire chapter out with that. So instead, I made this chapter mistly about the trip to Diagon Alley.**


	3. A Surprising Sort

**Sorry for the wait everyone, I had to rewrite this chapter several times before finally getting something I liked. And even now, it's a little too short for my liking, but oh well. Also starting in this chapter I will be implementing an explanation section to explain certain things in this story. I would have done this in the last chapter but completely forgot. Enough of my babbling, onto the story!**

* * *

"Sev," Lily said, coming in from the door, "one of the prefects just told me that we need to get our uniforms on."

Severus glanced up at her from his book, mentally wondering why she had taken so long looking for the snack lady. Another part of him was amazed that they were already getting closer to Hogwarts. It hadn't seemed like too long since they had left the station in the Hogwarts Express. Of course, that could have been his excitement making the time pass quicker.

And then his mind finally got to thinking about what his best friend had just said. One little detail picked at his brain.

"How?" he questioned. "All the other compartments are taken, and I doubt that you would want to see me change and vice-versa."

It was Lily who came up with an idea.

"Why did I let her change first, she always takes forever with normal clothes," Severus muttered. He was waiting outside of the compartment, the door closed and light shuffling sounds coming from underneath the door. Lily had suggested that the person not changing would wait outside and make sure no one accidentally walked inside, and as a gentlemen, Severus had allowed her to change first. A decision he was now regretting.

"I heard that," she replied. "I'm almost done, these robes aren't exactly the easiest things to slip into."

After about thirty more seconds of waiting the door creaked open. Lily stepped out, clad in the black robes of Hogwarts. She was still pulling at the sleeves, but stepped out of the door and into the hallway, allowing Severus to enter. Before closing the door, he gave her a stern stare.

"And no peeking." He heard her spluttering protests as he closed the door.

"That was one time, and it was an accident!" Had Severus been slightly less mature he might have snickered. However, he did allow a small smile to spread across his face.

He pulled his robes out of his bags and began to get dressed, noticing how Lily was right when she said these things weren't easy to put on. But after a while it would become nothing more than muscle memory.

Once dressed he opened the door and let Lily in. She sat down opposite of Severus and looked out the window. Without turning from the view she said,

"Can you believe that it's finally time. Ever since we first met I've been waiting for this moment. I always thought that I was the only person with weird abilities, but then you came along and told me that there was an entire civilization of people like me, with their own unique culture.

"When I learned that I would be going to a school to help me learn more about magic, I was excited, but I was also a little scared. I wondered if I wouldn't be good enough and that they would just ignore me. So the day that my letter arrived was one of the happiest days of my life, and the only thing that made it better was the fact that the two of us would be going together.

"I have a feeling that these next few years are going to be a lot of fun."

Seeing the smile on Lily's face and the happiness in her eyes, Severus made a promise. No matter what, he would always protect her happiness, even if it cost him his own life.

* * *

When the train finally arrived at the station, Severus and Lily both grabbed the final parts of their uniform, their hats. Severus put his on and stepped into the hallway. Turning around, he saw Lily trying to get her hat on, but it seemed like it was size or two too large. The hat kept falling down her head, covering everything from her eyes up. She eventually managed to get it to stay still on the top of her head.

The two followed the rest of the first years off the train, where a hulking mountain of a man led them from the station to the shores of a lake. Once everyone had piled into the boats waiting for them, they set off for the Hogwarts castle standing tall on the far side of the lake. Looking down into the water, Severus could have sworn that he saw people swimming around down there, but it had to have been his imagination.

* * *

Feeling the gaze of the dozens of older students stabbing into his back, Severus was feeling anxious as he waited for his name to be called. Lily had already been called and sorted into Gryffindor, along with Sirius Black. Severus nearly got a headache thinking about Black and his friend, James Potter.

They had only just met on the Hogwarts Express, but in that short amount of time the two had managed to get under Severus's skin. Severus could tell that they had grown up with parents who probably had encouraged their arrogant behavior. And if there was one thing he disliked in a person, it was arrogance.

"Lupin, Remus." Severus shifted his attention back to the kids in front of him who were being sorted by the talking hat. He watched as the next kid sat down on the stool and had the hat placed on his head. The hat took a few seconds to decide before settling on Gryffindor. A few more kids later it was Severus's turn.

Severus approached the stool and felt the hat being placed on his head. Soon after, a voice rang out in his head.

 _"Hmm... It's been awhile since I've sorted someone like you," the hat said. Severus wondered what the hat meant by that. Although he had a few other questions that were more important to him._

 _"How do you work? What kind of spell was used to animate you?" Severus questioned, his curious mind trying to figure out how the hat worked.._

 _"Those are questions I cannot answer, so settle down and let me have a look through your memories," the hat replied, and Severus thought he could hear an annoyed tone in its voice. "Now, let's see. You are definitely brave, but you do not have the reckless abandon of a Gryffindor. You are very wise, but the pursuit of wisdom is not the most important thing to you. You are very cunning, and have great ambitions. You would do well in Slytherin._

 _"However, your loyalty outshines everything else, perhaps it's an effect of your life as Itachi."_

 _"My past life has nothing to do with it, I have separated myself from that. My past life no longer affects me."_

 _"That is where you're wrong. You may not realize it, but everyone's traits and personality are determined by their memories and past experiences. So even though you may not think about it, those memories of a boy who was loyal to his village above all else affect your current self. No matter how hard you think otherwise, those memories will be with you for the rest of your life._

 _"But I digress. Now it is time to place you in a house, but since I am a generous hat, I will give you the choice to join Slytherin or to join wizards who share in your loyalty."_

 _"If you really can see inside my head, then you already know that there is something I would like to prove my mother wrong about."_

 _"Very well then, I think you should go to..."_ and then the hat yelled out the whole room, "HUFFLEPUFF"

Silence was all that met the hat's declaration, until finally the Hufflepuff table erupted in a shower of cheers and applause.

As the hat was being removed, Severus heard it whisper into his mind once more. _"Think about what I said, after all, your memories might help you here more than you realize."_

Severus thanked the hat before walking off to join his new house. He felt quite a few hands at him on the back as the rest of the students were sorted into their houses. After that, the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, outlined a few rules for the school year. Severus could tell that those rules would be quickly broken by Potter and his friends.

After the speech, Dumbledore sat back down and the once empty plates filled with food. Severus hadn't realized how hungry until just now. His stomach was calling out for food and he quickly began to sate his hunger. He also couldn't help but notice that the Gryffindors were taking the medieval theme very seriously with their table manners compared to the other three houses.

One of the older Hufflepuff students seemed to notice what Severus was staring at.

"Don't worry, they're normally not like that. They just get really excited at the beginning of the year."

Severus hoped that that was true, he wouldn't be able to stand if the Gryffindors were always nearly jumping on their table for each meal.

Once everyone had had their fill, each of the houses were led off to their dorms. Severus smiled at Lily as he passed her on the way out, something that he hoped no one else noticed. Once at the Hufflepuff painting, one of the prefects said the password and the all of the students filed through and went to their respective dorms.

As Severus lied down in bed, he thought about the hat's words and wondered if maybe he should try to use his memories to help him. He turned over and quietly sighed, this was something he would have to sleep on some.

* * *

 **Explanations:**

 **Severus' wand: The wand that Severus uses in the series is never stated, so I get to use a little bit of creative freedom here. Cedar is supposed represent Loyalty, and I don't think that needs to much explaining. I chose Dragon heartstring as his core because it seemed to fit better than phoenix feather or Unicorn tail hair. I chose 13 inches as the length of his wand because Itachi was probably about 13 when he killed his clan, well that and 13 is usually thought of as an unlucky number and we can all say that Itachi and Severus were not the luckiest guys in the world.**

 **Changing Severus' house: I chose to change the house that Severus went into because I don't want this to be exactly the same as the original series. Also loyalty is Hufflepuff's signature trait, something which both Itachi and Severus had boatloads of. And like the Hat said, our memories affect our personality, so Itachi's loyalty plus Severus' loyalty equals Hufflepuff.**

 **Severus' attitude to James and Sirius: Severus will still have that dislike towards James and Sirius from the series, but it won't be as bad as in series. Itachi was shown to hate the arrogance of the Uchiha clan with a passion, a trait that has carried over to Severus no matter how much he tries to block his memories.**

 **Severus' owl: The reason I chose to name Severus' owl Mikoto was because while Severus may want to forget his past life as Itachi, those memories still affect him. For the owl, he chose to name her Mikoto because killing his own parents put a great burden of guilt on Itachi, who cried while killing them. In a way, naming his owl after his mother is a small part of him not wanting to let go of his parents.**

 **Also the reason I chose the species of owl, was because that kind of owl has some of the best vision of any animal on the planet, similar to the Uchiha clan whose visual prowess with the sharingan gave them powerful eyes among other things.**


	4. The Mirror of Riapsed

**I'm not even going to make excuses. I was lazy, procrastinating, and decided to play video games and watch tv instead of writing. I offer my deepest apologies and will try not to let it happen again. On the bright side, I finally managed to get past Riku and beat the original kingdom hearts. Also starting next chapter, word count should increae to at least 3000 to 4000 words per chapter and maybe more. And finally due to National Novel Writing Month starting in a few days, the next udate may take a while as I am aiming to win. However I will work on the next chapter in every sare moment of my time.**

* * *

 _Chapter 3:_

 _The Mirror of Riapsed_

(20 years later)

Severus walked through the potion store, picking the ingredients he was missing. He did not want to run out this time, so he made sure to pick up a little extra just in case. He would also need to invest in a better security measure to keep the Weasley twins out of the ingredients cabinet. He did not want a repeat of "that" incident. He still couldn't walk by McGonagall without her cracking a small smile.

'Maybe some giant, carnivorous plants. That would be sure to keep them out... Unless they decide to steal supplies from the Herbology greenhouse to get past the plants.' He thought, but put it to the side since he still had a little bit of time before classes start.

After making sure that he had all that he needed, Severus walked to the front of the store and payed for everything, putting everything in bags. After all, many of the ingredients would have reacted quite explosively if he used magic to take care of it. Perhaps that was why he enjoyed potions so much, the lack of using magic.

As he grabbed the bags and turned to head out of the shop, the door opened and two figures walked in. One he recognized as Hagrid, who greeted Severus jovially, the other was a young boy probably about to start his first year. However, as he got a look at the boy, images of his childhood rival came to mind. The boy looked up and Severus froze, peeking out from between the boy's bangs was a lightning bolt shaped scar. But that wasn't what had startled Severus, it was the boy's eyes. Severus was looking into Lily's eyes, or rather the eyes of her child, Harry Potter.

Severus quickly looked away and swiftly walked out the door. It was a few minutes before he slowed down to a more leisurely pace. He would have to get used to seeing those eyes since the boy would be in his class.

"It looks like someone's come face to face with a ghost," A young man's voice called out, coming from the alleyway to Severus's left.

"It's nothing, just surprised to see the one who defeated Voldemort here."

"Whatever you say," The voice replied. The seriousness in the air was palpable. "Just because he's gone doesn't mean that the Potter doesn't have any enemies."

Severus stared at the ground in silence as the sound of retreating footsteps met his ears.

"I know."

Severus looked back at the store to see Hagrid and Harry exit and walk in the opposite direction. Looking closely, Severus could also see the new defense against the dark arts teacher, Quirinius Quirrell staring at Harry, trembling with what most would assume was nervousness.

'What are you up to?' Severus narrowed his eyes, a strange tingling sensation running up his spine. Severus watched as Quirrell disappeared into the crowd of people before he himself apparated to Hogsmeade to get back to Hogwarts

Once he had arrived at the large castle and had made his way down to his classroom he began to put away the supplies. Locking the cabinets back up, Severus stared at the tattered books lining the shelves. He needed to get some information about Quirrell, there was something about that man that Severus just didn't trust.

But that could wait for tomorrow, he had other things that needed to be done. He walked over to one of the lower cabinets and pulled out a simple cauldron. He brought out to the middle of the room and began to clean it by hand. Quite a bit of dust had collected over the summer, and a cauldron had to be spotless clean when making a potion. One speck of dust could lead to disastrous results. He had heard a story about a man who made a potion in a dirty cauldron and had ended up blowing up his entire house.

Suddenly Severus felt a great amount of darkness and immediately pulled out his wand and turned around.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" A light breeze passed through the room, which might not have been so unusual if not for the fact that he was in the dungeon with no way for wind to get in.

"So this is the man who was the right hand man to the dark lord?" A sinister voice rang out, echoing around the room and preventing Severus from finding the source. "Now teaching a bunch of brats how to turn themselves into gophers. I expected more from the man who murdered the woman he loved."

Old memories bubbled in Severus's mind and bile rose in the back of his throat. "Shut up!" Severus quickly muttered a word under his breath and aimed his wand at where he thought the mystery person was. A ball of light flew from the tip of his wand and exploded in a ball of fire that scorched the stone wall. A shadow flickered from the spot to another corner.

"Oh my, it seems like I hit a nerve. Don't worry I haven't come to fight you. You're not my prey." A pair of green eyes broke through the shadows. "But you better keep a close eye on that little Potter brat." Once again the breeze filled the room and the eyes and dark prescence disappeared.

Severus quickly chastised himself for losing control of himself and reacting like he had, but he also had to send a letter about this encounter. He sat down and began writing a letter, carefully encrypting so that if it was stolen it couldn't be read. He then made his way up to the owlery and gave the letter to Mikoto.

"You need to deliver this to Vallus. Fly quickly." Mikoto let out a screech before taking off into the dusk sky. Severus watched as the owl's silhouette gradually become smaller and smaller before disappearing entirely. He turned around and began the walk to Dumbledore's office, Severus needed to inform him about this intruder.

Along the way he passed several other teachers but paid them no attention, and he soon reached the door to the headmaster's office. He knocked and after a few seconds of silence the door opened.

"Ah, Severus, how nice to see you this evening. Come in, come in, would you care for a lemon drop?" Severus politely refused the lemon drop as he entered the office. Dumbledore's trust phoenix sat overhead, preening itself. Severus recounted the experience in the dungeon, Dumbledore listening carefully and patiently.

"I doubt it's anything to worry about, most likely a former death eater with a grudge. He shouldn't be too hard to locate and apprehend."

"With all due respect, sir, he was no mere death eater. He knew that I was the one to kill Li- Mrs. Potter. Other than yourself,only Voldemort knew that."

"Don't worry, Severus. I have faith in you."

"Of course, I will find out the identity of this man."

Dumbledore smile and popped another lemon drop into his mouth. "While you're here I would like to give you a special job. I need you to do nightly checks of a certain room to make sure that no one goes in there."

* * *

Severus had followed the directions of Dumbledore and found the room that he was supposed to be checking. He placed a spell on the door that would alert him and Dumbledore if the door was ever opened. And for the next few days Severus's schedule consisted of trying to find out the identity of the man who had appeared to him, finding any information about Quirrell that he could, and returning to the door each night to make sure the spell hadn't been tampered with.

However, one night, his curiosity got the better of him. Severus wondered what was behind the door that was so important.

'If Dumbledore entrusted me with this task then surely he wouldn't mind if I knew what I was supposed to be protecting.' He thought, and then disabled the spell. Walking in the room, the only thing he saw was a mirror with some words etched into it. He got closer and was able to read the words, "The Mirror of Erised". He looked up, expecting to see his reflection, but had the breath sucked out of him instead.

He saw Lily, standing right there in front of him. She was wearing a white dress and her eyes were closed. Her right hand was u almost like she was waiting for a high-five. Had it all been just a nightmare? Had it all been a bad dream that he had finally woken up from? Part of him wondered how it was possible, but Lily was standing right there perfectly fine. He hadn't hurt her after all.

He reached out place his hand on hers and but was stopped by cold glass. Severus crumpled to his knees and rested his forehead against the mirror as silent tears fell down his cheeks. The cold hard pain him like a stack of bricks, it was all real. It was no nightmare. He really had killed her. The entire time, the image never disappeared.

"The mirror of erised, that is to say, the mirror of desire. It shows us our deepest, most heartfelt desires. It shows what we wish for more than life itself." Severus looked behind him and saw Dumbledore. "Come, I would hate to have one of my best teachers wither away in front of that mirror like so many others."

Severus nodded, taking a last glance back at the image of his deceased friend, who finally opened her eyes and looked directly at Severus. He quickly turned away and followed Dumbledore back out.

As Dumbledore shut the door and recast the spell on it, Severus spoke up.

"It would be more truthful to call it the mirror of despair." Memories flooded through his head as he looked at the door. "After all, it only shows you what you cannot have."

Dumbledore looked over, but the usual twinkle in his eye was gone, replaced by a look of sympathy and understanding. Severus didn't have the heart to ask what it was that Dumbledore saw when he looked in the that night, Severus never wanted to open that door and was extra vigilant that no one could enter in and fall prey to the mirror's trap. And he sent his days combing through various sections of the library searching for clues.

And then a week before the start of the school year he found his first clue. In an old dust book that had been sitting in the wrong section. It was about various folktales and myths of the magic world. One in particular caught his attention.

'Legends tell of a being who has plagued humanity since the dawn of magic. Those that have seen the being completely never live to tell of his full appearance. Before killing a victim the being selects someone to warn of his future deeds, concealing himself in shadows. Those who have been warned always report that the entity came and went with the wind and had striking eyes like emeralds.'

Severus's hand shook, this was exactly what he had experienced. He looked at the top of the page and read the words emblazoned there in gold and silver lettering.

'Vento Demone.'

 _To be continued…_

* * *

 **And there's chapter three. Not really anything to explain this time around except that I'll be adding my own plot elements into the series so that way I'm not just show the books from Sev's point of view. Also the scene of Severus and the Mirror of Erised was inspired by a youtube video which is no longer viewable in America for some weird reason about it not being available in this country. It is on another site though, so go check it out here just put /'s where there are -'s : .jp-watch-sm7957079**


	5. The School Year Begins!

**Hey, everyone! Merry Christmas. Sorry for the delay, but here's a nice little present for you. Also I would like to say that after NaNoWriMo, I have realized just how much five thousand words is. So sorry for that promise that I will not be keeping, I will make sure to have at least two to three thousand words a chapter. And maybe occasionally you guys might get a five thousand word chapter. Anywho, enough of my babbling. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Chapter 4:_

 _The School Year Begins! (With a Few New Faces)_

* * *

Severus pulled at his robes as he headed towards the great hall, looking over a few letters while doing so. Why were his robes so itchy, the Weasleys hadn't arrived yet. Unless they had done something before they left last year. So was now even the summer wasn't safe from those two?

He glanced at the nearest clock, just a few more hours until the students arrived. Just a few hours and Severus would be stuck teaching Potter for the next seven years. Fate couldn't possibly be any more horrible. No, wait, it probably could.

Severus looked over the last letter in his hand, reading through it as fast as he could. As soon as he finished it, he burned it with a quick spell. Not even Dumbledore himself could read that.

A few moving staircases and an infuriating encounter with Peeves later, Severus arrived at the great hall with just a half hour to spare. He took a glance over to Quirrell and wondered what had made him so jumpy. He didn't buy the story about an encounter with a vampire. He also wondered where the head of the Slytherin house was, there was no sign of the woman anywhere.

He took his seat, and twenty minutes later the the second to seventh years students filed in and went to their respective tables. Severus gave a warning glare over to the Weasley twins.

Minutes later, McGonagall came in followed by the first years. Severus heard most of them talking quietly, especially those who came from Muggle families. He looked down the line, judging each of the students.

His gaze lingered upon three students. The first was Potter, who was glancing around nervously and curiously. Second was a boy with bright ginger hair, undoubtedly another Weasley. And finally was a girl with bushy brown hair, who walked with confidence and seemed to know everything that was going on.

Severus looked between the three of them, and he got the feeling that they were going to be part of something very interesting.

All three of them ended up in Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat taking quite a bit with Potter. Severus wondered what took the hat so long to figure out where to place Potter. He had figured it would be a near instantaneous decision thanks to his parents.

"Silvia, Amarantha," McGonagall called out.

The girl, who was one of the last ones to be sorted, began running up to the hat. She had long red hair tied into a braid that was draped over shoulder. Her eyes were pure black, like oil, and shone with wonder at her surroundings. Severus got the funny feeling that he had seen her before.

She walked up to the hat after her name was called, and closed her eyes once it was placed on top of her head. Their mental conversation went on for a while, her eyebrows scrunching up several times.

"SLYTHERIN!" The Sorting Hat finally yelled out, a loud clapping coming from her new housemates. She quickly walked to her table and sat in the nearest available seat, which happened to be right next to Draco Malfoy.

The two began talking animatedly before Dumbledore said a few words about where not to go. Along with the Forbidden Forest, there was also a door on the third floor that no one was supposed to enter. Severus knew that there was probably going to be more than a few students who got too curious. Of course, anyone in their right mind would quickly get out once they saw Hagrid's pet.

Then the feast began, and conversations began erupting all throughout the hall. Severus ate his food slowly and carefully, unlike many of the children who were trying to stuff as much in their mouths as possible.

He directed his gaze over to the Slytherin table, and to the latest additions to its population. Especially that one girl. He knew of no wizarding families with the Silvia name, which meant that this Amarantha girl was either muggleborn or first generation half blood. But despite that, she would still be judged by the other houses simply because of what house she was sorted into.

All because of the actions of a few. It reminded Severus of his past life and how the other clans had thought of the Uchiha as bad due to the actions of Madara.

He then glanced over at the Gryffindor table, where Potter was glancing over at the Slytherins as well. The newest Weasley was whispering something to him, and Severus instantly knew that the seeds of distrust were being planted into the malleable boy's head.

As the feast began winding down, Severus tried striking up a conversation with Quirrell in an attempt to get the other professor to divulge information. To no avail.

Then the prefects began leading their houses to their respective dorms, singing that blasted school song that Severus personally thought was written by a tone-deaf goblin. But there was no changing the song. Not yet, anyway.

Severus himself headed down to one of the old, unused dungeons of the castle. There he waited patiently for the three who had been sent to aid him in his mission. He hoped that this time Ministry had sent wizards that were actually good. He could still occasionally hear the ringing in his ears.

A few minutes later, Severus looked behind him.

"You finally showed up," he said to the two. "I'm glad that the Ministry sent you, at least you two are used to my training methods."

The two stepped forward into the light, revealing a witch and wizard with whom Severus was well acquainted.

The first was a young man, the young man he had talked with in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, in fact. He had short, chestnut brown hair and light grey eyes. His arms were folded in front of him. He wore a pair of jeans and dark black shirt with long sleeves. He had dark skin, and he wore a dark cloth armband just below his shoulder

"Yeah, well I heard that the last group they sent you nearly blew you to kingdom come. I volunteered since they didn't send anyone else with any skill."

"Hey, be quiet, Amadi!" The other shouted, her hair a violent crimson and Amadi backed up slightly. But her hair quickly began to change into a bright, bubblegum pink color. Her eyes were dark, and seemed to twinkle like a pair of stars. She wore a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of loose pants.

"I'm glad to see you again, Tonks," Severus greeted, deciding against using her first name, Nymphadora, since she seemed in an especially explosive mood today.

"Same here, Teach," she replied. "I'm just glad to finally be on my first real mission as an Auror!"

Severus looked down at his energetic former student, noting the gleam in her eyes. However, this still was only two out of the three promised members. "Where is the final member of this team?"

Tonks and Amadi looked at each other nervously.

"Well," Tonks began, "we don't know. We have no idea who the third person who came with us is, Caelestis didn't even tell us a name."

"But they did say that whoever it was definitely arrived with us," Amadi added, slipping his hands into his pockets.

Severus sighed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a funny feeling in his gut about the other person, and that they would probably be a lot of trouble.

"Very well," Severus said. "You two will just take the test now, and the other one will just have to it alone later."

"Wait, test?" Tonks questioned, and the corners of Severus's mouth twitched ever so slightly upward.

"Of course. I have to make sure that you are ready for this mission."

"We can pass any test you throw at us!" Amadi exclaimed, a confident expression upon his face. He grabbed his wand, red sparks lightly dancing around the tip.

"Are you sure about that?" Severus asked as he pulled a lever on the wall. A thick iron gate, which was reinforced with magic, began disappearing into the ceiling as it was raised higher and higher. The sound of grunting and heavy breathing could be heard from inside the dark cell.

"Uh, what exactly is in there?" Tonks asked nervously, and even Amadi was beginning to look a little worried.

"Your test," Severus said as a large hulking creature stepped into the light, "is to take out this graphorn."

As the titanic monster stepped full in the light, Amadi sucked in a nervous breath and Tonks began sweating profusely. The skin on the graphorn's humped back glistened in the low light, and one of its horns had broken off about halfway down.

This would be a good test, since graphorns were highly resistant to spells it would take a lot of power to take one out. Severus couldn't wait to see their power, he was especially curious as to how much Tonks had grown since leaving Hogwarts.

"You're insane!" she yelled, quickly taking out her wand and pointing it at her foe.

"Perhaps, but insanity just means seeing what sane people do not," Severus stated sagely.

"Lay off the fortune cookies, man!" Amadi replied, and then aimed his wand toward the graphorn's head. "Bo-"

Before he could cast the spell, the graphorn charged at the two of them. As they tried to dodge, the graphorn managed to knock the wands out of their hands. Tonks looked at her empty hand and then at the graphorn, before she took off in an attempt to outrun her pursuer. Amadi tried to dash in to grab his wand, but the graphorn quickly intercepted him.

Suddenly the door began opening, and Severus was prepared to see the final person the Ministry had sent him. Instead, one of the first years came through, Amarantha Silvia.

Tonks waved at her in a desperate shooing motion. "Don't come in here!"

The young girl stood frozen as the graphorn set its sights on what was obviously the weakest one in the room. Severus grabbed his wand and prepared to cast a spell, but the girl's expression turned stony. She pointed her wand at the charging creature and yelled out, "Everte Statum!"

The graphorn looked like it was struggling against something for a moment before it was violently thrown back against the wall. As the creature struggled to stand back up, growling angrily, Tonks and Amadi rushed to get their wands.

"What the-" Amadi muttered as he looked at the young girl.

"I was sent to help you with your mission by the Ministry. Sorry I'm late, but it was hard to get away from everyone on the first day." She looked back at the graphorn. "Is this some kind of test… I've never actually fought a graphorn before."

"He's coming again," Amadi exclaimed and aimed his wand. "Bombarda!"

A series of blasts exploded around the creature, and it collapsed again. Amadi smirked victoriously, but the graphorn began standing back up.

"Incendio Maxima!" Tonks called out, pointing her wand at the struggling monster. A burst of flames shot out from the tip of her wand and consumed the graphorn in a blazing inferno. The charred creature collapsed and made no move to rise back up. Severus looked at the three, before turning to the fallen graphorn.

'Sectumsempra,' Snape muttered in his head as he slashed his wand as if try to cut across the graphorn's neck with a blade. Seconds later, a large gash appeared on the creature's neck and it bled to death not too long after.

The other three looked at the grisly scene with a morbid look in their eyes, but didn't ask any questions. Severus quickly cleaned up the mess, before turning to his team.

"You three have passed," he congratulated, putting his wand away. "To take down a graphorn with magic alone is nothing short of incredible. It proves that all of you have the power needed for this mission."

"You couldn't have tested that in a less life-threatening way?" Tonks said questioningly, and slightly annoyed.

"But then you might not have used your full power," Severus replied, and Tonks pouted slightly and began walking away. She managed to get ten feet before tripping and rolling into the nearby wall.

Severus sighed. "Well, some things never change."

"I'm okay," she said, sounding somewhat dazed as Amadi helped her up. Once she was back on her feet, Severus began his explanation of why he had called for their help.

"Along with another reason that I am not allowed to disclose without the permission of Headmaster Dumbledore, I have asked for your assistance because several weeks ago I had an encounter with someone very dangerous.

"He told me that he is going to try to kill Harry Potter sometime during the year. I believe that he is a former follower of Voldemort who has come for revenge. It is our duty to stop him and any others who are with him."

"Right!" All three exclaimed, and then took their leave. Severus watched them leave, before he left for his own room.

The entire way his thoughts stuck to Amarantha. Just who was she? Her power was unnatural for her age, especially for someone not from one of the ancient wizarding families. This year was full of strange things.

However if the Caelestis trusted her, then Severus would too. She certainly had enough power, and having someone in with the students could be enormously helpful when it came to gathering information. Severus knew all too well that children never told adults everything.

Severus got a few of his supplies ready for tomorrow's class. He was now glad more than ever that the Slytherins and Gryffindors had almost all the same classes together. Now Amarantha could protect Harry in the other classes.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from outside his door.

"Got your konk, Nymphadora!"

"Peeves! Get back here! And don't call me Nymphadora!"

Severus sighed. A hectic year, indeed.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

 **And Chapter 4 is done. I hope you guys enjoyed. And now to get some little information out of the way.**

 **New Characters: Amarantha and Amadi are two characters I created specially for this series, and whom I took a great amount of enjoyment out of creating their backstories and personality. They both will be pivotal to the story all the way to the end. And I hope you guys like me bringing everyone's favorite metamorphmagus (Did I get that right?) and klutz into the fray.**

 **Graphorn: For those that don't know, because as far as I know the graphorn isn't mentioned in the main seven books, a graphorn is a highly aggressive bull like creature with hide said to be as tough as dragon scales. Also, as stated in the chapter, they are highly resistant to magic.**

 **Severus's position: Severus is now the Head of Hufflepuff since that is now his house. Sorry, Pomona Sprout, but you are still a very important member of the Hogwarts staff. As for who the new Head of Slytherin is… You'll get to see veeeery soon.**

 **Action: The action in this series will be different in this series, not on the level of Naruto, but much more than the books. I've also felt that the action in the books gets pretty stale: point wand, cast spell, dodge opponent's spell, repeat. Other than quidditch and any action involving broomsticks or flying, those tend to be pretty nice. Gah! I'm babbling again! Silencio!**

 **Caelestis: And the final object on today's agenda is the Caelestis term that's mentioned several times in the chapter. This is a made-up term that I created for the series, and is a title that will be fully explained later, so try to have patience.**

" **Do or do not, there is no try."**

 **Yoda! where the heck did you come from?**

" **Travelled from a galaxy far away, I have."**

 **Oh... So how about that twist in Force Awakens?**

" **See that coming, I did not."**

 **It's reassuring to know that you can still surprise a 900 year old Jedi master. Hey! Watch where you're swinging that lightsaber! Ow! You're surprisingly nimble for someone so old. I meant that as a compliment!**

 **See you guys next time… Hopefully...**


	6. The Demon Calvary

_Chapter 5:_

 _The Demon Calvary_

* * *

Severus thought that his first class with the first years had been pretty successful. He had managed to instill fear inside all of them, and a bit of hatred in the case of Potter. He had paired off the students so that each pair consisted of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin as a way to try to combat the hatred between the two houses.

Perhaps some of Dumbledore's cunning was starting to rub off on him.

Severus had paired Potter with Amarantha. Now she had an excuse to spend more time with the young boy, and Severus also hoped to try to have her show the young Potter that not all Slytherins were evil.

Since his classes were done for the day, Severus decided to head to the library to try to fish out some more information from its depths. There were only a few more books to check before he would have to resort to the various espionage tricks he had learned as Itachi Uchiha.

Entering the library, he noticed Potter and Amarantha working together for their assignment, and he didn't notice any signs of hostility between the two. So it seemed that Severus's plan was working, at least up to the point where they were working together.

Severus quickly went through the few final books on the subject he needed, skimming through the pages to quickly get through it. Unfortunately, he found nothing that would even come remotely close to helping.

Severus mentally cursed, how was he supposed to do anything when he didn't have any information to go on.

Well, now that he had exhausted all the resources in the library, it was time to go back to where he had first met that strange man and try to glean some clues from there. On his way there, he passed by Quirrell and felt a strange sensation in his stomach.

'Just you wait, Quirrell," Severus thought as he stared at the other teacher's retreating back, 'I'll find out your secret, and when I do you are going to wish that you had never come here.'

Finally making it to his classroom, he quickly checked to make sure no one was inside before he began inspecting every square inch of the room. He picked up books, looked under the seats, and checked behind bookshelves.

Then his hard work began paying off. Stuck to the back of one of the bookshelves was a strange magical seal, and Severus sat down and began studying it, before realizing that magic seals had unfortunately been one of the few classes that he hadn't really been good at.

"But Tonks aced it," he said aloud, and ran to go get his former student. After dragging her away from talking to Ms. McGonagall, which had been really difficult, he began to explain to her on the way back to his classroom.

"So you need me to figure the purpose of a magic seal?" She questioned before tossing a sly smirk over at him. "Does that mean that you can't do it?"

Severus remained silent, not willing to reply to that question. However, that just seemed to fuel her fires, and she began to laugh not so silently. Severus sighed in annoyance, Tonks would never let this go. She was going to hold this over his head forever, or at least until he found something on her that was on equal terms.

Tonks was so consumed in her humor that she didn't notice the person in front of her and ended up crashing into the unfortunate person.

"Watch where you're going," the person, who happened to be another teacher, exclaimed. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, which regarded Tonks coldly.

"Yeah, sorry," Tonks apologized. "It was an accident."

Severus regarded the woman and nodded lightly. "My apologies, Narcissa, I am partially to blame for Nymphadora's lack of attention." Tonks's hair turned red, but she refrained exploding at Severus for calling her by her first name. "Now, if you'd please excuse us."

She walked away, and Severus gave a sigh of relief. Dealing with Narcissa Malfoy, who had taken over the position of the Head of Slytherin after the previous head retired, could be extremely tiring if you managed to catch her at a bad time. Luckily, they had been spared today.

Tonks also realized just how lucky they were, and she copied her teacher in sighing. "That was close, that's one Slytherin that could have made a whole lot of trouble for us."

Severus silently agreed, if followers of Voldemort were involved with this, the Malfoy's were definitely not people that they wanted to catch onto their investigation.

"Let's hurry up. The sooner we figure out that seal, the better."

Tonks nodded, and the two continued their way to Severus's classroom. Once inside, Tonks got to work on analyzing the seal. She muttered several things and pointed her wand at the seal. The seal began to glow a brilliant amber before the markings separated from the paper and floated in the air. Tonks then stood up and began inspecting it closer, using her wand to make the markings bigger or isolating certain sections.

"I think that's a "Ruh" symbol. No, wait, it's a "Mir" symbol. Phew, good thing I noticed that," she muttered, and began skimming through the symbols quickly while writing a few things down.

Severus waited somewhat patiently for Tonks to finish, and then she came up to him with a grin on her face as the glowing marks in the air vanished.

"So, what did you find?" He questioned, and she held up the paper seal.

"Based on the markings, it's some kind of projection seal that allowed him to project an apparition like hologram anywhere in this room," she explained as Severus took the paper in his hand.

"That's nice to know, at least we're fighting something with flesh and blood," Severus commented, pleased to finally have some more good news.

"That's not all," Tonks replied, "this kind of seal requires that the user be somewhere near while using it."

"Tonks, you wonderful, shapeshifting girl. Get Amadi and start looking for wherever he was transmitting from."

"Aye, aye, teach!" She exclaimed, and both began looking for secret passages, Tonks rushing out of the room to get the others and check nearby halls and rooms. MInutes later, Amadi burst in the door and had a large grin on his face.

"I think we found it, Severus," he said. "Hurry up and get out here."

Severus followed Amadi out into the hallway, where Tonks was standing in front of a painting, which, as Severus got a look at it, he realized that the painting was unfamiliar to him. HE walked over and joined up besides Tonks.

She turned to face him. "This must be it. I even asked Filch, and he said that the painting shouldn't be here."

Amadi's eyes grew wide. "You approached Filch and asked him something on your own accord. You have more guts than I thought," he told her, getting a smug look in response. He then looked over at Severus. "So let's get in there and hopefully bust this dude."

"Right," Severus replied and pressed his hand against the painting, watching as it disappeared and was replaced by a doorway. The three stared at the dark passage beyond for a few seconds.

"How did you know that would work?" Tonks asked.

"Lucky guess," Severus answered. "I'm going first, you two stay close."

Severus closed his eyes and did something that he hadn't had to do in a while. Ever since coming to grips with the fact that he had once been Itachi, and accepting that part of his life, he had made sure to see if this body still had chakra. He had been pleasantly surprised to see that it did, and had made sure to train himself back up to the level where he could use it like he had as Itachi.

So he channeled the chakra to his eyes, and opened them to reveal his blazing red Sharingan eyes, thankful that both of his teammates already knew that he had them. That wasn't to say they all about his past life, all they knew was that he had weird eyes that gave him strange powers.

Amadi shivered. "I hate it when you do that, it's not natural."

And with that, the three started through the dimly lit tunnel, with Severus using his eyes to check for traps or illusions.

Several meters later, the three exited the hallway and came into a relatively small room. Inside was various other magic seals, a small desk, and an entire wall with a bookshelf filled with books on various subjects.

Tonks pointed to one of the magic seals inscribed on the floor. "And there's the transmitter seal."

Severus nodded, deactivating his sharingan now that it was no longer needed. Then the three began searching through the room to find anything that could give them an identity of their villain. They combed over everything with a fine tooth comb,

Over at the desk, Amadi held up an envelope in the air. "Found payment and contract over here."

"Can we trace anything?" Severus called over.

"Unfortunately, no. Whoever they are, they're good," Amadi replied, looking at the letter. "But with this, it does seem that were dealing with a merc or merc group."

"See if you can find anything that can help us identify which group."

A few minutes of searching later, Tonks pulled through with something. Severus and Amadi rushed over, and looked at the letter with a strange symbol on it. It was the image of a skeletal horse riding through pitch black flames.

"Well, that sure looks like the marking of a group. Either one of you recognize it?" Amadi questioned.

Severus stared at the mark before placing his finger on it. "I do. That is the mark of the mercenary group known as the Demon Calvary."

Tonks's eyes grew wide. "I've heard rumors about them. They've never failed a mission, so the only one's who know their faces and abilities are six feet under."

Severus shook his head. "That's not entirely true. I've met the leader, and it only makes me more certain that this is the group we're looking for. The man who approached me tried to pass off as a wind demon, and the leader of this merc group specializes in wind magic."

"That's great! That gives us somewhat of an advantage," Amadi said, but Severus shook his head.

"No, it's been years since then, and I have no clue what level his abilities are on now. Besides, he works with a group, and I have no clue about any of them."

Severus walked into the center of the room, and looked to look at the other magic seals littering the room.

"So what do we do now?" Tonks questioned, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Now, we wait for our opponent to make their move, we inform Amarantha of what we found out here, and we keep a close eye on Potter," Severus informed and stood up. "From now on, this room will be our base of operations. Tonks, check these seals and get rid of anything that could allow them to spy on us. Amadi, just in case they come back in here, set up traps."

Both immediately got to work, and Severus went to find Amarantha to tell her about the new information they had.

Severus couldn't help but smile a little. Today the enemy had tipped their hand slightly. But the question was whether they had done it on purpose. Well then, Severus was just going to have to raise the stakes and see...

* * *

Quirrell charged into the room hidden underneath the grounds of Hogwarts, which was the secondary base for the mercenaries. His face was contorted by anger as he marched to the center of the room, and looked around the dark space.

"Why did you let him get into that room? What if he figures out our plans?" He shouted, but got no response. "Come out, Taranis!"

A young man hovered to the middle of the room. His long black hair flowed past his shoulders, and his features were very soft for a man. His green eyes were sparkling, as if he thought all this was just some sort of game. He wore a pair of dark green cargo pants and an opened blue vest.

"Whatever, you need to learn to lighten up, Quirrell. You're gonna end up getting wrinkles if you keep it up."

"This is serious! If Snape finds out what our plans are, then all of this will have been for nothing, you idi-"

Quirrell stopped talking as a needle grazed past his face and embedded itself in the floor. Quirrell turned to face a young woman sitting in the rafters. Her light brown hair went to her waist, and her blue eyes were trained coldly on him. She wore a blouse covered in the designs of intertwining vines and flowers, and a dark grey skirt.

"I will not tolerate anyone who insults my master," she said, her eyes those of a killer. "This is your only warning."

Taranis began waving his hands at the woman. "Now, now, Zinnia. It's okay, I'm sure that Quirrell meant it in the best possible way."

She humphed and turned her head towards an area from which strange sounds were coming from, and the scent of blood hit their noses.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, performing that vulgar ceremony in here?!" She exclaimed. "We all agreed that you couldn't do that in here anymore; we just got rid of the smell from the last time."

"Shut up, you stupid woman!" A voice shouted, although his language had been much harsher. "You can't tell me what to do. Besides, there's nowhere else around here for me to sacrifice to Jashin-sama without you morons getting on my case."

Quirrell could now make out a man laying on the ground with his silver hair slicked back, and his violet eyes held a sociopathic air to them. He wore a black cloak with red clouds on it, but it was currently getting ruined by the onyx colored pole stabbed into his stomach, but he seemed to be unaffected by the pain. No, that wasn't right. He noticed the pain, but he just seemed to like it.

Quirrell then noticed the blood covering the ground and the presence of another person- no, wait, that was a centaur!- on the verge of death, hanging from the wall by black poles similar to the one imbedded into the man on the ground.

"She's right, ya know, Hidan. Go make your stupid little sacrifices to your stupid little god somewhere else." Another male voice broke out, but Quirrell couldn't locate the source of it.

"What was that, Idris, you stinkin' scumbag! You asking for a fight, cause I'd be more than happy to personally send you to meet Jashin-sama myself."

Quirrell now knew that the people he hired to help complete this job were veritably insane, and there was a high possibility that he could be killed if he didn't tread carefully. He was starting to think that it might have been better if he had just stuck with his original plan of going it alone.

* * *

 **And another chapter completed, now onto the few notes I have for this chapter.**

 **Magic Seals: I know that this isn't actually mentioned in the books, but I wanted to add in this element into the magical world, which will make for some interesting things down the road. I'm not going to go in-depth right now, but I will just go ahead and say that the subject is deeply connected to runes.**

 **Demon's Calvary: And so now we finally get a name to the bad guys who are after Harry. I hope you guys enjoy this new little plot element. Most of the group are original characters, but I decided to throw in another Naruto character into the mix. And who else would fit but the immortal, sadistic, Jashin follower known as Hidan.**

 **Now that the notes are done, I can finally stop writing for tonight. And next time, prepare for the first conflict between Severus's group and the Demon's Calvary.**


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